A Scratch In Time
by Phoenix Ride
Summary: Sonic has turned evil, and Scratch is on a mission to stop him. With help from another dimension can Scratch put an end to Sonic's reign of terror and stop the Black Chaos Emerald's curse? Read, Review, and Find Out!
1. Chapter 1: Stop That Chicken!

**A Scratch In Time**

**By: Phoenix Ride**

**Ch.1: Stop That Chicken!**

It was a peaceful day in Echidnapolis, and the Chaotix were meeting for lunch in the food court as usual. However, not all of them were present.

"Where's Knuckles and Julie-Su?" asked Mighty.

"On a date, where else?" said Vector, stuffing another hamburger into his mouth.

"Sounds like someone's a little jealous," said Espio.

"Of those two!" shouted Vector, slamming his fists down on the table " I most certianly am not!"

"Denial," sang Mighty.

"To bad Charmy isn't here to liven up the mood," said Espio.

"Kid's grown up now" said Vector " he's a King and has got a wife. I still miss the old days though,"

"We all do," said Espio.

Suddenly the whole sky seemed to go dark, making the citizens of Echidnapolis stop in fright. The Chaotix immediately abandoned their lunch and looked towards the sky, sensing that something was terribly wrong.

What had been a nice, cloud free day was suddenly blackened with fierce, dark storm clouds shooting purple lightning bolts. The eye of this threatening maelstrom was a bright, eerie yellow and seemed to be entire cause of the sudden storm.

"That wasn't in the forecast for today," said Vector.

"Look!" shouted Mighty " something's falling towards us!"

"And it's coming fast!" shouted Vector " get out of the way!"

With that said the Chaotix sped out of the path of the falling object. Whatever the object was screamed and plowed down head first into the table where Vector, Espio, and Mighty had been eating.

As soon as the object landed, the storm ceased and dissappeared, once again allowing the sun to shine through. Cautiously, the Chaotix approached the object that fell from the sky. What they saw had their brains twirling in confusion.

Lying flat on it's stomach appeared to be a large, robot chicken. One of Eggman's crazy creations or roboticized Mobian? But that wasn't possible was it? I mean, it did fall from the sky! Well whatever the answer was, at least it seemed to be itelligent.

"Wha...where am I?" asked the robot chicken, woozingly surveying his surroundings.

"Hey pal you okay?" asked Vector, stepping up to greet the bird.

The chicken immediately jumped up when it saw Vector, his filling with fear as he got a clear view of where he was. His eyes looked from the stunned crowd of echidnas to Vector, Espio, and Mighty, and then he ran off in a panic.

"Hey wait!" said Vector, giving chase " we ain't going to hurt ya!"

Shrugging their shoulders, Espio and Mighty joined Vector in his chase to stop the robotic bird.

* * *

Knuckles and Julie-Su were out enjoying a picnic near the outer edge of the island when a chorus of screams caught their attention. Both echidnas eyes widened in amazement as they saw Vector, Espio, and Mighty give chase to a large robot chicken.

The chicken obivously had no idea that he was on a a floating island, and was heading straight for a thousand foot drop! Knowing his help was needed, Knuckles ran over to join the chase.

* * *

"We're getting closer to edge!" shouted Espio.

"He's not crazy enough to jump is he?" asked Mighty.

The armadillo's question was shortly answered when the robot chicken suddenly fell off the edge of the island.

"He's crazy enough," said Vector.

For a moment, the Chaotix thought they failed to save the chicken's life, when Knuckles suddenly rose up, carrying the metallic bird in his hands. Once his feet were back on firm ground, the first thing the chicken did was bow up and down to Knuckles, thanking the echidna for saving his life. Julie-Su soon ran up to join the Chaotix.

"Is he alright?" asked Julie-Su, reffering to the chicken.

"He's fine" Knuckles answered, then turned to the chicken " who are you? And what are you doing on my island?"

"Commander Scratch Sir" said the robot chocken, giving a salute " leader of the Super Sonic Smash and Search Squad. I have been sent here by Tails to eliminate Sonic the Hedgehog from history,"

"Tails sent you?" asked Julie-Su, confused.

"That's right Mam" said Scratch " Sonic has gone off the deep end and has destroyed everything in my time. So Tails sent me into the past to stop him for good,"

"Your time?" said Knuckles " where exactly do you think you are?"

"Fifthteen years in the past where else?" said Scratch.

"Well I think you've got thrown a little off course" said Vector " this isn't the past pal. You've been thrown into an alternate dimension,"

"Then that means" said Scratch, sinking to the ground " I failed. My world is doomed,"


	2. Chapter 2: Sonic Scare

**Ch.2: Sonic Scare**

Sonic and Tails were shocked when they recieved a call from Knuckles, saying to get to Angel Island A.S.A.P. It had to be a real big emergency if Knuckles had called for help. The echidna usuaslly handled all the tough problems himself.

Knuckles and Julie-Su were eagerly awaiting the pair's arrival at the outer edge of the island. After the usual greetings, Sonic got straight down to business.

"Okay Knuckles" said Sonic " what's the big problem here? Echidnapolis looks safe and sound to me,"

"It's not that kind of emergency" said Knuckles, folding his arms over his chest " earlier today we got a visitor from another dimension claiming that Tails sent him in order to eliminate you,"

"I sent him?" said Tails " why would I do a thing like that?"

"Yeah" said Sonic " Tails wouldn't hurt a fly, especially his best friend, would ya buddy?"

"No way!" said Tails.

"Well apparently" said Julie-Su " this other Tails did. According to Scratch, the Sonic in his world has gone completely crazy,"

"Scratch?" said Sonic, cocking an eyebrow " strange name. Where's this guy right now?"

Knuckles almost looked embrassed to answer.

"The arcade,"

* * *

"Haha! Got ya!" yelled Scratch, juggling his joystick.

"Oh no you don't!" shouted Vector, trying to keep up.

Espio and Mighty watched the whole exchange with amusement. Vector and Scratch were locked in game of Commander Force 1, and Scratch was in the in the lead. Both chameleon and armadillo had to admit, for a robot chicken, Scratch was a master at videogames.

"No!" Vector screamed, as his scapeship was destroyed.

"Haha haha!" cheered Scratch, pointing at Vector " I beat ya! You owe me an ice cream sundae!"

"I'm afriad the sundae will have to wait" said Knuckles, strolling into the arcade " come outside Scratch. There's some friends I want you to meet,"

Shrugging his shoulders Scratch, Vector, Espio, and Mighty followed Knuckles outside. However as Scratch's eyes landed on Sonic and Tails, all the joy he had felt a moment ago turned into fierce anger, as he moved in to attack them.

Luckily, Vector and Mighty had sensed the attack coming, grabbed Scratch's wings, and stopped the metal chicken in his tracks. Sonic immediately had the feeling that Scratch didn't like him.

"What's he doing here?" growled Scratch, reffering to Sonic, then turned to Tails " after all the pain and suffering he caused you're hanging around with again like you're all buddy buddy?"

"What I do?" asked Sonic.

"You murdered people that's what!" said Scratch.

Everyone around the robot chicken gasped.

"You killed Robotnink! Grounder! Everyone on Mobious! And nearly killed your little friend Tails!" yelled Scratch.

"But I..." said Sonic, shaking his head in disbelief " I would never do a thing like that!"

"Sure you wouldn't" said Scratch sarcastically " why else would Tails send me to destroy you?"

"But I didn't send you," said Tails.

"What are you talking about?" said Scratch, looking at Tails " of course you did! You built the machine that sent me here,"

"I think we all need this explianed from the begining" said Knuckles, looking at Scratch, his voilet gaze telling the robot to calm down "Scratch, why don't you tell us your side of the story,"

Taking a deep breath, Scratch calmed down, and Vector and Mighty released his arm. Though they stood at the ready in case Scratch decided to attack Sonic again.

"Okay" said Scratch " here's how it starts...,"


	3. Chapter 3: The Black Chaos Emerald

**Ch.3: The Black Chaos Emerald**

* * *

**Scratch's POV**

* * *

Dr. Robotnink had found this old, stone temple in the mountians where he believed a Chaos Emerald might be. Me and Grounder tagged along with him, to make sure Sonic wouldn't interfere with his plans.

We managed to sneak inside the temple, narrowly avioding the booby traps, until we reached the center of the shrine. Standing ontop of this pedastal a beautiful, shining Black Chaos Emerald.

With no Sonic in sight Dr. Robotnink was about to pick up the Chaos Emerald, when Sonic sped in and snatched it away before he had the chance. It wasn't long before his buddy Tails flew in beside him.

"Stop them!" shouted Robotnink, and me and Grounder went to stop Sonic and Tails.

However, me and Grounder ended up crashing head first into wall as Tails flew up and Sonic sped away. Sonic stood up on top of the pedstal now, holding up the Black Chaos Emerald, and gloating at Robotnink.

"Looks like you lose again Robotnink," teased Sonic.

Suddenly, something strange happened. A stray beam of moonlight peaked through a hole in the temple's roof, striking the emerald, and a pitch black shadow started to rise behind Sonic.

Me, Tails, Grounder, and Dr. Robotnink all started to back the moment we saw the dark shadow. Sonic hand no idea what was happening behind him.

The shadow grew eerie red eyes and nasty looking claws. Tails was pointing desperately for Sonic to turn around. By the time Sonic took his advice however, it was to late. The shadow ate Sonic alive!

At first I thought that the Black Chaos Emerald had killed him, but I was wrong. It had transformed him! His once blue fur had turned pitch black, his green eyes had turned red, he had nasty looking claws, and a red 'x' on his belly. His spines looked crystalized, and a evil smirk was painted on his face. The Black Chaos Emerald seemed to have dissappeared.

"Hahahaha" laughed Sonic, looking at his new form, and speaking in a voice deeper than his own " I'm finally free! Now the world will taste the true meaning of Chaos!"

With that said, Sonic flew out the temple and his rampage begun. One by one, the villages of Mobious and it's citizens fell to his power. Conquering the planet faster than Dr. Robotnink had ever dreamed.

Tails had to hide out at our place cause he was scared at what Sonic would do to him. I mean we had to rescue the little fox guy before he could be destroyed by his former friend!

Like it or not, Tails and Dr. Robotnink agreed that the only way to stop this horrible future was to destroy Sonic once and for all. So they got to work on a time machine so me and Grounder could travel to the past when Sonic was an infant.

Things didn't go as planned however. Just as Tails and Dr. Robotnink had finished the time machine, Sonic showed up, saying that he would kill us all.

He took out Grounder first, then went after Dr. Robotnink. I watched their deaths take place right in front of my own eyes as Tails activated the time travel sequence.

"Quick Scratch go!" he yelled to me " you're the only one who can save the future now!"

"But Tails...," I started to say, but he pushed me through the portal before I could finish.

"Go!" he shouted.

And with that, I never saw him again.

* * *

**Normal POV**

* * *

Everyone stood silent as Scratch finished his story. Sonic had to be the quietest of them all. Had his alternate self really caused that much harm?

Knuckles crossed his arms, his mind deep in thought. The Black Chaos Emerald Scratch had mentioned had peaked his interest, and he was determined to find out more. He had a feeling that the merald was the cause for Sonic's sudden mood swing.

"Alright Scratch" said Knuckles, looking up at the robot bird " we'll help you restore your world to the way it was. And hopefully we won't have to kill anyone to do it,"

"But how we going to get there?" asked Vector " we can't travel to another dimension,"

"I can" said Knuckles " all I need is a little help from the Master Emerald,"

"But how would we get back?" asked Tails.

"The same way," said Knuckles.

"What are we waiting for then?" said Sonic " let's go!"

And with that said, everyone raced off to the Master Emerald's alter. Scratch was immediately entralled by the size of the gaint, glowing gem. It's green light seemed to have a hypnotic effect on the bird as Knuckles raised up his arms and started to chant.

Suddenly, the whole group was engulfed in a ball of green light, and started shooting through the cosmos, heading for Scratch's dimension. Sonic, Tails, Julie-Su, and the Chaotix all had to hide their amazement. Knuckles had never done this before.

When the green light vanished, Sonic and the others found themselves standing in a deep, dark world. The sky was red, the lands were black, cities lay in ruins, their skeletons being burned apart by flames.

"It was no wonder Scratch was upset" thought Knuckles " if this is what Sonic has done to his timeline,"

"Come on" said Scratch, walking away " I gotta go back to Robotnink's fortress to see if Tails is alright,"

Sonic and the others shrugged their shoulders and followed Scratch. This chocken knew this world better than any of them did. However, just after a short five minute walk, Scratch stopped in his tracks and looked up in horror.

"Oh no" said Scratch " we're to late,"

Robotnink's fortress had an extreme evil makeover while Scratch was gone, but instead of an Eggman statue decorating the outside walls, now stood a demonic looking Sonic statue. What was once Scratch's home, was now Dark Sonic's palace.


	4. Chapter 4: The Speed of Darkness

**Ch.4: The Speed of Darkness**

"Great!" said Scratch, pounding his fist on a nearby rock " Dark Sonic has completely taken over the fortress and probably killed Tails too!"

"We don't know that for sure" said Knuckles " for all we know, your Tails could still be alive,"

"What makes you say that?" asked Vector, looking at Knuckles.

" I traveled to altnerate universes with Sonic in the past" said Knuckles " in one universe, it was Tails who was completely evil, not Sonic,"

Sonic shivered at the memory. In that universe, Tails had completely gone overboard and had tried to blow up Mobius with a gaint bomb. While Knuckles went after the bomb, Sonic went after Tails.

It was painful for Sonic to be battling his best friend like that, and kept on looking towards Knuckles to see if the echidna had disarmed the bomb. However, Knuckles wasn't trying to disarm it, he was carrying it, and running over to the cliffs to throw the bomb away. The timer red two minutes and counting!

Tails saw what Knuckles was doing and flew after him, with Sonic following behind. Knuckles had reached the cliff's edge and was about to throw the bomb, when Tails flew in and attached himself to it!

As Sonic was speeding in, his love for Tails making his mind was split in two. If he rescued Tails off the bomb, Knuckles and all of Mobius would be destroyed. But if Knuckles went ahead and threw the bomb, only Tails would be destroyed.

Making a hard decision, Sonic stopped himself from running, and let Knuckles throw the bomb over the cliff. The bomb exploded, and took Tails with it. And Sonic cried.

"Sonic!" said Julie-Su, shaking the hedgehog's shoulder "Earth to Sonic!"

"Huh?" said Sonic, snapping out of his trance " sorry, I was just reliving a memory. Anyway, you were saying Knuckles?"

" I was saying that what all the altnerate Sonic's have in common is that they care for their friends" said Knuckles, a little miffed " Dark Sonic wouldn't watse his time destroying Tails. He's going to try and convert him into being evil just like him,"

"Then we got to stop him before he does that to me...uh.. him!" said Tails.

"What's our plan of attack?" said Vector, looking to Knuckles " it's not like we can use the front door,"

"No" said Knuckles " we need to split up. One team to rescue this universe's Tails, and the other to retrieve this Black Chaos Emerald. Julie-Su and the Chaotix will go with me to get the Emerald while the others find and rescue Tails. Scratch, since this is your home, you'll be in charge of the second team,"

"Yes Sir!" said Scratch, giving a salute " we can use the emergency tunnel system to get inside,"

"Excellent" said Knuckles " let's move out!"

* * *

Minutes later, Knuckles plan had been put into action, and the team split into two groups. Knuckles, Julie-Su, and the Chaotix went in one direction, while everyone else went in another.

Scratch was quite proud when Knuckles had named him leader to one of the teams. Something about the echidna made Scratch want to please him, just like he did for Robotnink all those years ago.

"Am I finding a new Master?" Scratch thought, when he tripped over something in the metal hallway.

"Scratch you alright?" asked Sonic, running up to the fallen chicken.

"Yeah" said Scratch getting up " I just tripped over something,"

"Was this it?" asked Tails, picking up what looked like a mechanical limb with a drill attached.

Scratch looked at the part in horror, and noticed some others parts spread across the floor as well.

"I can't believe it" said Scratch " it's Grounder! Quick! Tails! Help me me put him back together!"

It took some doing, but eventually Grounder was rebuilt and online again. Shaking off his head in confusion Grounder studied his surroundings. He smiled when he saw Scratch, but when his eyes landed on Sonic and Tails his mood instantly changed.

Calling up his guns, Grounder aimed them at Sonic and Tails, ready to shoot the two dead, when Scratch stopped him.

"No! No! Don't shoot!" said Scratch " these guys are here to help us! They came from an alternate timeline to help us stop Dark Sonic!"

"Oh" said Grounder, putting his weapons away " sorry, with all that's happened in the last few days, makes me a little edgey you know,"

"So we see" said Sonic " well now that we have a new member to the team, we still have a crazy hedgehog to stop,"

With that said, Sonic, Tails, Scratch, and Grounder sped off to stop Dark Sonic once and for all.

* * *

Meanwhile, with Knuckles group, they had finally reached the Emerald Chamber and found the Black Chaos Emerald. The black gem stood shining darkly on a pedtsal in the center of the room. However a dark, black wolf with gleering red eyes stood stalking in front of it, its teeth ready to tear at anything or anyone who came within ten feet of the gem.

"How are we going to get past that guy?" said Mighty.

"Allow me," said Espio, and slipped into invisiblity mode.

Carefully, the chameleon started to sneak past the wolf and grab the Chaos Emerald, but Wolf was no fool. Even though the wolf's eyes couldn't see Espio, he could still catch the chameleon's scent.

Releasing an angry growl, the wolf charged at the chameleon. Knuckles and the others immediately ran into action. Mighty charged at the wolf, and knocked the over-sized canine into a wall with one punch.

The wolf shook off the attack and charged again. This time, Knuckles and Julie-Su attacked together, striking the wolf's weak points and making him fall onto the floor. Espio helped out a bit, by throwing shuriken at the wolf.

However, even though it may have badly injured during the fight, the wolf still charged. Now it was Vector's turn to declare an attack. Telling everyone else to stand back, the crocodile puffed up his chest and released a streaming jet of flame from his mouth, instantly incinerating the wolf.

Soon there was nothing left of the snarling beast, but a burning corspe.

"Good work Vector" said Knuckles, then looked to the pedstal that held the Black Chaos Emerald " now it's time to stop this maddness once and for all,"

* * *

Inside Dark Sonic's throne room, the demonic hedgehog was having a blast torturing the defenseless Tails that lay hung on his wall. Since everyone else on Mobius was destroyed, and Scratch was trapped traveling through time, there was no one else for him to have fun with.

The twin-tailed fox that hung on the wall was bleeding, bruised, and beaten, completely having lost his will to fight. For many years Tails had admired Sonic and his herioc personality. They were like brothers to each other, had fun, and did everything together. But now, all those good times were gone.

This wasn't the Sonic he once knew, this was a monster. A cold, heartless, murderering monster.

In his mind, Tails hoped that Scratch had successfully made it to Sonic's childhood, and was on his way to kill Sonic to prevent this horrible future from happening again. The fate of the future was in Scratch's hands now.

"Please Scratch" Tails begged in his mind " save us,"

"I'm growing bored" said Dark Sonic, floating to Tails, red lightning exploding from his claws " let's say we end this right now,"

"Let's say we don't!" yelled out a familiar voice, stunning Dark Sonic and Tails.

From up on the wall, Tails couldn't believe his eyes. There, on the ground, stood Scratch with a newly repaired Grounder, and different Sonic and Tails standing by his side. Oh fate would laugh at the irony being played.

"Alright Dark Sonic" said the Sonic Scratch was with " let's see how good you really are,"


	5. Chapter 5: Dark Invasion

**Ch.5: Dark Invasion**

Without another word Sonic and Dark Sonic began to clash. The room was soon spinning with the sounds of battle. Telling Scratch and Grounder to watch Sonic's back, Tails went to free his alternate counterpart.

The Alternate Tails thanked his foxy rescuer, nursing his many injuries as soon as he was released. His greatful blue eyes looked up at his counterpart.

"Thanks for rescueing me" said the Alternate Tails " I didn't expect Scratch to return with a Sonic and Tails from a different dimension,"

"You mean you expected him finish the job and kill Sonic?" said Tails " well guess what pal, we're going to put a stop to your Sonic being evil,"

"How are you going to do that?" asked the Alternate Tails " the Black Chaos Emerald's power can't be reversed. Dark Sonic has become invinceable. The only way to save the future is to destroy his past,"

"No it isn't!" said Tails " we brought someone along who can control Chaos Energy. Just wait and see, Knuckles will find a way,"

* * *

Cautiously, Knuckles approached the pedastal holding the Black Chaos Emerald, determined to reverse it. The dark glow from the eerie, black gem made Knuckles heart well with fear, but with one look towards his friends, he pushed it down and moved forward.

"You can do it Knuckles," said Julie-Su.

With that little encouragement, Knuckles cupped his large hands over the Chaos Emerald and began chanting in anceint echidna tounge. A bright red glow started to surround the echidna's body, showing his Chaos powers at work.

In that one moment, Knuckles could see the entire Black Chaos Emerald's history. Where it came from, and why it was hidden. Although, even though it was interesting to hear this fansinating tale, Knuckles knew he didn't have much time before Dark Sonic could beat the others.

Taking a deep breath, Knuckles relaxed the red aura around him, and started to drink in the Black Chaos Emerald's dark energy.

Black tendrils of darkness rose out from the Black Chaos Emerald and pierced Knuckles skin, making the echidna cry out in pain. Concerned, Espio, Julie-Su, and Mighty were ready to pull their friend away from the Emerald when Vector stood out in front of them and stopped them in their tracks.

"No" said Vector, giving the trio a hard stare with his fearsome red eyes, his voice dead serious. " this something Knuckles has to do on his own,"

Finding truth in Vector's words, and just plian shocked by the crocodile's serious nature, the rest of the Chaotix backed down and watched Knuckles continued to duel with the Black Chaos Emerald.

"Come on Knuckles" Vector whispered in his mind " you can do it!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Dark Sonic had the other Sonic on the ropes. Both Tails cringed as soon as Dark Sonic slammed the other Sonic hard into a wall.

"This Sonic Scratch found has remarkable speed and strentgh" thought Alternate Tails " but he doesn't have Dark Sonic's powers,"

This fact was only proven when Dark Sonic charged up a black ball of energy in his hands, and aimed it as his blue counterpart. Sonic tried to move out of Dark Sonic's way, but that last attack had stunned him, he couldn't move.

"Well" said Dark Sonic, looking at his paralyzed opponent " not feeling good? This will put an end to your pain permantley,"

Grounder turned his hands into missles and was about to fire at Dark Sonic in order to stop his attack, when Scratch's voice suddenly brought him to a halt.

"Look!" said Scratch.

Frozen in midair, was Dark Sonic, with tiny red electric bolts dancing over his body. The dark hedgehog's body flinched in pain, making him drop his Chaos Bomb to the floor.

"What's wrong with him?" asked the Alternate Tails, confused as Dark Sonic continued to writhe in pain.

Everyone else just grinned, and the injured Sonic spoke for them all.

"Knuckles,"

* * *

In his mind, Dark Sonic knew something was terribbley wrong. His hold on the blue hedgehog was growing weaker. There was no way he could stay in this form for much longer if this power drain kept up.

Angry and desperate Dark Sonic went out to seek the source of his torture. His astral form traveled to the Emerald Chamber where he saw a strange-looking red echidna draining the power from his Chaos Emerald.

"This creature must be stopped before I lose hold of my host" thought Dark Sonic " beware Echidna, I'm coming for you,"

Without another thought, Dark Sonic's astral form ghosted into Knuckles mind. Would Knuckles mind be powerful enough to resist Dark Sonic's urge and save the world? Only the next chapter will tell.


	6. Chapter 6: Battle of the Minds

**Ch.6: Battle of the Minds**

Inside Knuckles mind, the red echidna was imagining himself back home on Floating Island, calling on the Master Emerald's support, as he stood on top of the alter draining away the power of the Black Chaos Emerald.

The more dark energy Knuckles sucked into his body, the more the pain increased. He was nearly done with his work when a sudden dark ball of energy exploded between him and the Black Chaos Emerald.

The vision shattered bringing blackness with it. Growling in frustration, Knuckles got up to see who had interupted his work. Needless to say, he wasn't to surprised to see that his attacker was none other than Dark Sonic.

" This going to be tough," thought Knuckles.

"Foolish Echidna" said Dark Sonic " did you really think I would allow you to rob me of all my power?"

"The thought had crossed my mind," said Knuckles.

"Insolent creature" said Dark Sonic " you dare talk back to one superior to you? Your powers won't be enough to stop me,"

"I must be doing a good though" said Knuckles, sporting a grin " or else you wouldn't be here to stop me in the first place,"

Angered by Knuckles last comment, Dark Sonic charged in to attack, but the echidna had seen the attack coming and jumped out of the way. Dark Sonic turned around and fired an orb of dark energy at Knuckles, but again the echidna dodged it.

Going in close, Knuckles delievered a fierce array of punches right at Dark Sonic's chest, making the black hedgehog back up in pain. The dark hedgehog's body suddenly began to glow red, making Knuckles eyes widen in fear.

Quickly Knuckles ended his assualt and jumped away from Dark Sonic just as the dark hedgehog unleashed his Chaos Blast. A massive amount of red light was spread in all directions, causing major damage to anyone who touched it.

And although Knuckles was far away from the epicenter, the shockwave from the blast alone was enough to knock him off his feet. Dark Sonic grinned as he approached Knuckles. Even after a major beating the echidna was still trying to get up and finish the fight.

"Well, well" said Dark Sonic " you've impressed me Knuckles. Other people wouldn't have lasted this long in a fight againist me,"

"I've been fighting with Sonic for years" said Knuckles, standing up " his speed pales in comparsion to my strentgh,"

"Indeed" said Dark Sonic, thoughtfully " this hedgehog form has gotten rather dull and boring, perhaps it's time I take on a new host,"

However, before Dark Sonic could even think about possessing Knuckles body, a sudden painful shock pierced his nerves making the dark hedgehog stop in his tracks. He had been away from pyshical body to long, if he stayed here much longer he would disentagrate.

"Must return" said Dark Sonic " but I will return for you Knuckles the Echidna. I swear it!"

With that Dark Sonic's astral form ghosted out of Knuckles mind, allowing Knuckles to reawaken in the real world.

He felt extremely light-headed and weak once he woke up his trance-like state, but luckily Vector was there to catch Knuckles as he fell.

"Thanks Vector," said Knuckles.

"No problem pal," Vector grinned.

"Did you stop the Black Chaos Emerald Knuckles?" asked Mighty.

"I managed to drain most of its power" said Knuckles " but Dark Sonic came into my mind and stopped me from completeing the process,"

"He can do that?" asked Julie-Su stunned.

"Scratch and the others are in danger" said Knuckles grabbing the Black Chaos Emerald off its pedatsal " we have to get there to help them before it's to late,"

"Then what are we waiting for?" said Espio " let's go!"

And with that said, the Chaotix rushed off to help Scratch and the others in the final battle againist Dark Sonic.


	7. Chapter 7: The Final Battle

**Ch.7: The Final Battle**

When Dark Sonic's astral form returned to his host body it was big releif. Scratch and the others looked up surprised when Dark Sonic's body suddenly sprang back to life, expelling the red lightning surrounding it earlier.

"No way!" said the two Tails.

Getting up from his position on the ground, Sonic stared at his darker counterpart in disbelief.

"It seems like Knuckles wasn't able to stop this maniac after all," thought Sonic.

"I don't believe it!" said Scratch.

"Now what are we going to do?" asked Grounder.

Dark Sonic smiled at the fear that shown on the others faces, however he had to be careful at how he plotted his next attack. Knuckles has greatly diminished most of his chaos energy, and his hold of this current form was growing weaker by the minute.

"I must grab hold of that echidna's mind" thought Dark Sonic " and force his spirit to bend to my will. But first, I must rid myself of this pestalence,"

Dark Sonic conjured up an energy orb in his hand and let it fly at Scratch and Grounder. However, the orb never got a chance to hit the two as Knuckles suddenly charged in and punched the orb into a nearby wall.

Scratch grinned when he saw Knuckles, amazed by the echidna's superior strentgh, as the rest Chaotix fell in behind him.

" His power is amazing" thought Scratch " perhaps I have found a new Master to serve,"

"Time to put an end to this Dark Sonic!" said Knuckles holding out the Black Chaos Emerald, and chanting in ancient echidna tounge.

Dark Sonic began howling in pain as Knuckles chanting became more intense. The evil force binding the Alternate Sonic peeled off making the unconious blue hedgehog fall to the floor. Alternate Tails soon rushed by his side.

A dark cloud was all that remianed of the evil spirit that had taken over the Alternate Sonic. His fearsome red eyes glared at Knuckles and charged. Quicker than the human eye, Knuckles was thrust up into the air, being choked by the dark spirit of the Black Chaos Emerald.

Sonic, Tails, and the Chaotix immediately sprang into action determined to release the shadow's choking hold. But all their efforts porved fruitless as the shadow just repelled them away.

"Worthless scum" said the shadow to the others " you will not stop me from having my revenge on this echidna. He has drained me of my power, and now I shall take it back from him. Piece by piece,"

"Oh no you won't!" said Sonic, super-spinning at the dark shadow.

The super spin struck with incredible force, making the Black Chaos Emerald slip from Knuckles hand and fall to the floor. Luckily Scratch saw the Emerald falling and managed to catch it.

The dark shadow lost its grip on Knuckles for a minute, making the echidna fall to the floor, gasping for breath. Before the dark spirit could even think about attacking Knuckles again, Vector appeared right in front of his fallen friend, and let loose a jet of streaming hot fire, scorching the dark shadow.

Espio, Julie-Su, and Mighty came in next, attacking the shaodw in their own unquie ways. Espio with his explosive shuriken, Mighty with his superior strentgh, and Julie-Su with her martial arts skill.

Not wanting the Chaotix to hog all the fun Sonic and Tails joined in the fight, attacking the shadow from all sides, and driving it farther away from Knuckles.

The dark shadow was getting irraited at being dragged away from his prize, and looked towards Scratch who still held the faintly glowing Black Chaos Emerald in his hand.

"I won't last much longer" thought the shadow " I must claim the echidna's body Now!"

With that thought in mind, the dark shadow charged through the resistance and pounced towards Knuckles body, dtermined to take over the echidna's mind. Scratch saw the black shadow heading towards Knuckles, and in desperation, threw the Black Chaos Emerald to the ground, making it shatter into a thousand pieces.

The shadow stopped in it's tracks as soon as the Emerald was broken, howled in pain and disappeared. With it's dark heart no longer beating, the curse of the Black Chaos Emerlad had finally come to an end.

"Master you alright?" asked Scratch, running up to Knuckles to see if he was okay.

"Scratch?" said Knuckles, waking up from his woozy state " what happened to that dark shadow?"

"Gone Master" said Scratch " the Black Chaos Emerald too,"

"What happened to it?" asked Knuckles.

"Uh...I...broke it," said Scratch, nervously.

"You broke it?" asked Knuckles, stunned.

"I was desperate to save you" said Scratch " it was the only thing that came to mind. You're not mad at me are you?"

Knuckles thought over it for a minute.

"Nah" said Knuckles " you trusted your gut and worked out for the best. I'm proud of you Scratch,"

"Thank You Sir," said Scratch, smiling.

"Hey, he's waking up!" yelled Alternate Tails, dragging everyone's attention to him.

When Alternate Sonic opened his eyes and saw the strange group surrounding him he didn't know what to think. Most of the group was full of people he didn't recgonize. Scratch and Grounder were standing near that group. There were two Tails, and another him standing a few feet away.

"Tails?" said Alternate Sonic, turning the closest Tails to him " what the heck is going on here?"


	8. Chapter 8: A New Purpose

**Ch.8: A New Purpose**

Alternate Sonic couldn't believe his ears once everyone had gotten through explianing that he had been possessed by an evil spirit, destroyed most of Mobius, and tried to kill them all. However, when Scratch showed him the shattered shards of the Black Chaos Emerald he began to believe it.

" So my Tails sent Scratch back in time to kill me and he wound up in your time instead?" asked Alternate Sonic.

"You got it," said Sonic, throwing his counterpart a thumbs up.

"Well" said Alternate Sonic " thanks for bringing me back. It seems like I have a lot of work to do to make for all the evil I've done in the last few days. See you later guys,"

"Hey wait for me!" yelled Alternate Tails, chasing after his Sonic.

Once the troublesome duo was gone, it left the rest of the group stewing in their thoughts.

"Well, what happens now?" asked Vector.

"I guess we go home," said Sonic.

"Not right now" said Knuckles " that battle with Dark Sonic drained almost all of my energy. I need some time to rest before I ask the Master Emerald to take us home,"

"Well you guys can sleep here tonight" said Scratch " this fortress still has plenty of room,"

"That would be great, Thank You," said Julie-Su.

Once they had their guests escorted to their rooms, Scratch and Grounder went over to the living room in order to talk in private. Silence passed between the bots for a long while, before either of them decided to speak.

"Scratch" said Grounder " what are we going to do now? Robotnink's dead. We don't have a Master anymore,"

"I know" said Scratch " I've been asking myself that same question ever since I got sent back in time. There's nothing left for us to do here. We're not the SSSS Squad anymore. We need a new Master to serve,"

"But who?" asked Grounder.

"I know just the person" said Scratch, with a grin " we'll ask him tomorrow before he leaves,"

* * *

The next morning, everyone was gathered outside of Robotnink's fortress to be transported back home. Good night's rest had done good for Knuckles, as he felt ready and willing to go back home.

"Wait!" said Scratch, him and Grounder unning up, before Knuckles could cast the spell " Stop! Don't go yet! Me and Grounder have something to ask you first,"

"What is it?" asked Knuckles.

"Can me and Scratch go with you?" begged Grounder " Please?"

"Huh?" asked Sonic's group surprised.

"Why would you want to come with us?" asked Tails " isn't this your home dimension?"

"It is" said Scratch " but now that Dr. Robotnink's gone, there's no reason for Super Sonic Search and Smash Squad to exsist. We lost our purpose, and we both think that following Knuckles we'll find a new one,"

"You want Knuckles to replace Dr. Robotnink?" asked Mighty, stunned.

Sonic and Tails couldn't help it, they laughed out loud.

"Wow" said Sonic " never in my life would I believe that someone would actually say that. Well it's your choice Knuckles, do you want Scratch and Grounder to become the new members of Team Chaotix?"

Knuckles closed his eyes, arms crossed over his chest, mumbling in confusion. How come, everywhere he went, the strange stuff always happened to him? Scratch and Grounder stood nervously looking at Knuckles, awiating his decision.

"Alright" said Knuckles to the two nervous robots " you guys can come with me,"

"Yeah!" shouted Scratch and Grounder, jumping in the air, and slamming a high-five.

Sonic shot a grin at Knuckles as the echidna chanted the spell to send him and the others home. Only this time, when the green light vanished, Scratch and Grounder were taken along for the ride.

* * *

Weeks later, everything was as normal as ever in the Sonic Universe. Back in Scratch's dimension Sonic and Tails were working overtime to undo all the damage Dark Sonic had done to their universe. Things were coming along well from what they heard. Some of the Mobians that survived Dark Sonic's reign of terror were even helping clean up.

Meanwhile, Scratch and Grounder were having fun in Echidnapolis living with Knuckles and the rest of the Chaotix. Grounder and Mighty would race each other just to see who was the fastest, while Scratch still kicked Vector's but at videogames. Ha, the croc owed Scratch ice cream sundaes for a week!

Espio would just find a queit place where he could peacefully meditate, but whenever Scratch and the others decided to play football, he had to make use of his ninja skills to aviod their charging wake.

Knuckles grinned at all the chaos happening below, from his position on the Master Emerald's alter. The Chaotix were crazier than ever since Scratch and Grounder had joined the team, and Knuckles couldn't help but laugh at their antics.

Even though the echidna would never admit to himself or anyone else, he loved having some new friends to hang by his side. And he would have never have met Scratch and Grounder had Scratch not been sent back in time to kill Sonic.

"Hmph" thought Knuckles " I guess I owe that hedgehog again. Whenever he screws up, something happens to me. Thanks, Sonic the Hedgehog,"

**The End**


End file.
